In a conventional slicing operation the slicing blade, which has an eccentric involute cutting edge, is continuously rotated and the product to be sliced is fed continuously into the knife. Due to the eccentric involute curvature of the cutting edge each rotation of the blade produces one slice of the product.
If the blade is pushed into the meat product to initiate the cutting of the slice there is a moisture and grease buildup on succeeding slices. Furthermore, the compression of the product when the meat is pushed into the blade causes a power overload.
To overcome these difficulties and prevent the product from running into the back of the blade it has been the practice to cut one slice while the feed of the product is stopped and then advance the product for the next slice. The disadvantage of this practice is that at high speed slicing, for example 1600 slices per minute, it would be impossible to start and stop the meat feed for each slice.
The method of the present invention overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages by advancing the leading edge of the blade at the rate of speed of feed of the meat product to the blade so that there is zero velocity between the blade and the meat. The apparatus of the present invention permits the use of a conventional cutting blade to accomplish this method. In such apparatus the angle of the blade is so set that the cutting edge advances at approximately the same rate as the product. Feeding the meat product into the blade with the blade rotating at such angle prevents the meat from running into the blade while it is cutting. Thus the present invention avoids moisture and grease buildup on the slices, does not cause any noticeable power overload, and permits cutting at high speeds.